Re: eggs with thin shells

[NEIL CLARK <NCLARK@museum.gla.ac.uk>]

Not all eggs have the same thickness.  I think that what have been 
called T. bataar eggs are thicker.  Another point is that some of the 
calcium is remover from the shell by the developing embryo as a 
supply for the bones.  This can thin the eggs.  The eggs can also be 
thinned by taphonomic processes and sedimentological processes.  
Through compaction the calcite shell can be thinned in the direction of 
maximum compaction resulting in the egg being thinner on the top 
and bottom and thicker on the sides.
->0<- (egg seen sideways on as I can't find the keys to do it the right 
way - arrows show direction of compaction and the thinned part of the 
egg shell).

As an extra, the bun-shaped eggs also seem to have a 'ratite' 
structure to them yet they have been decribed as sauropod 
(herbivore) or ornithopod (also herbivore).

Neil


Neil Clark
Curator of Palaeontology
Hunterian Museum
University of Glasgow
email: NCLARK@museum.gla.ac.uk

Mountains are found in erogenous zones.
(Geological Howlers - ed. WDI Rolfe)